Unf*** Your Finances: Be Ready for Life's Curveballs

I bet you think this article is about having an "Emergency Fund". You lose!

I mean, if you want to read about Emergency Funds, there's a bajillion other posts and articles and even entire budgeting strategies built around it - but here, it's different. Stick around, I'll tell you how.

Last week, a family member of mine got really sick. She lives in Canada, a distance that is drivable (though it takes all day) or I can fly there...usually in about the same amount of time. When I heard how badly she was feeling, I made the decision to go visit and help her.

I checked flights, not even worried about the price, just to see what timing was available. Had there been something convenient, I would have hopped on that without even worrying about the cost. As it turned out, driving got me there faster. I spent 4 days there, helping to pay for medicines, food, parking downtown in an expensive city, and covered it all without having to add any debt to my life.

How did I do that without an Emergency Fund?

Using YNAB for so many years, I've been setting aside small amounts of money for dozens of things that most people would call an "Emergency". Things like new appliances (we all know they breakdown at the least convenient time), car repairs, medical bills, and even vet expenses. Consistently putting a few dollars a paycheck to these types of categories means that, years later, I have built up a buffer of funds for nearly any predictable event I could think of!

Now that's not to say that I completely predicted needing to drop everything to nurse a sick family member in another country...but I DID have enough funds in various places that I could move money around and cover all my costs.

But that's not even the best part. The best part was that I didn't have to worry about money while I was worried about my family. In an already stressful situation, it was great to have that one less thing to not stress about...and that, my friends, is what Spendfulness is all about.